Africa not a gay place

17 July 2014, 06:15

Whether or not you agree or disagree with the rights of homosexuality that remains nothing more than your opinion. Whether its brought on by religious reasons or otherwise your opinion is safely protected by the freedom of speech such as the rights of homosexuals are protected by the human rights act. In South Africa anyway.

Yes, SA is one of the only nations in Africa that fully recognizes the rights of LGBT groups and is the ONLY African nation to have legalized gay marriage.

38 other African nations on the other hand sit on the other side of the fence. Homosexuality is illegal and is punishable in various ways ranging from fines to death sentences. Yes, you could be lead to the rope because you love another person who happens to share the same sex. Most of these countries, have thankfully kept capitol punishment to a minimum but that hasn't stopped the acts of violence that have been perpetrated against LGBT groups in their respective countries.

Because of a very contentious bill that was suggested in parliament in Uganda in mid 2011, by MP David Bahati (a former member of the National Prayer Breakfast) homosexuality was highlighted in a country where it had before remained very much an unknown entity. Because Uganda is a pious nation the reaction to such an "abomination" caused a witch hunt in many communities. Gay rights activist, David Kato, was subsequently murdered later that same year after a well known right-wing Newspaper published the names of many outspoken homosexuals next to the caption "Hang them".

The bill received heavy criticism from most Western countries but was none the less signed off and passed by the President at the beginning of this year. Although the death penalty was omitted, homosexual acts can be punished with up to 14 years imprisonment. Bellow I initially wanted to post a link to an interview between American talk show host, Rachel Maddow, and David Bahati but N24 seems to take issue with anyone posting links and refuses to post my article. If you're a little more adventurous you'll find it by searching for both Rachel Maddow and David Bahati on YouTube.

Uganda stands with countries like, Nigeria, Ghana Zimbabwe and Gambia. All of which have a zero tolerance policy on homosexuality and all of which remain extremely religious nations.

But what is their reasoning? You have to have some reason behind why you want outlaw something. We outlaw things because they in some way or another harm people. Such as drugs and under aged-drinking. So what is the core reason for outlawing homosexuality? Because homosexuals can't breed, they need to recruit. The logical fallacy of the slippery slope argument. Recruit children to be exact. Yes, according to Bahati in particular his main case against homosexuality was to protect children from gays who go into schools and convert children into homosexuals.

A stand point that has been used not only by him, but countless politicians before him all over the world. A point that has been disproven by scientific communities and independent researchers as well as ones own level of reasoning. Such claims were made initially to promote nothing more than hate speech and slander.In order to prevent hypothetical thing A from happening we have to do thing B because if we don't do so then down the road thing Z will happen and so on and so forth. The scary fact that 38 African nations base their damning laws not only on religious doctrine but logical fallacies is completely alarming.

Its become an ongoing cycle where in a nation such as Uganda with and Estimated 500'000 homosexuals have to either remain underground or seek asylum in other countries like our own in order to live as who they are becomes the order of the day.

It brings us back to the fact that such reasons for such laws are either presented by zealots that argue the fallacies or religious organisations that for some reason continue to exert their will over government. Whether or not you agree with gay marriage or the lifestyle because of purely religious reasons should never dictate the course of action to those in power who are tasked to rule fairly and objectively.

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